Go for a walk, sip some coffee, and you’ll have a fresher set of eyes when you return. If you have to proofread your own work, step awayĬlose your document, shut down your computer, and take a break from staring at the screen for a few hours (the longer, the better). It’s like a crooked painting in your house - you don’t notice it until someone else points it out. After spending so much time on your work, you’ll be apt to accidentally glaze over errors and typographical errors. Get a pair of fresh eyes on your writing. That work should have been done during the developmental editing phase. In this stage, you also shouldn’t completely overhaul a piece of writing from, say, a 1,500-word blog post to a 3,000-word help article. Proofreading is not the time to decide that you’ve changed your stance on an important topic - that kind of change should happen during the initial planning, thesis-writing, or outline phase of your writing. In other words, proofreading is not the phase where you should be completely reworking a paragraph or changing the direction of your main points. If you’re wondering what time is the best, we advise after morning coffee and before your deadline.īecause the proofreading process is intended to be the final step before publishing or hitting “send,” the changes should be relatively minor - meaning, catching typos or errors that may have slipped by. The best time to proofread is during every project’s final stage, after revisions are done and copy editing has been completed. Voice and style are consistent throughout.Helpful information such as an FAQ section exists.No “bad breaks,” such as widows or orphans.Formatting appears as it was intended - bolds, italics, indentations, new paragraphs, and fonts are correct.Words - especially names and organizations - are spelled correctly. Links function properly and direct readers to the right pages.These two are not the same, though, and it’s crucial to be aware of their differences if you’re anyone working with written content.Ĭommon things to double-check when proofreading The terms copy editing and proofreading are often used interchangeably by those not familiar with the space. These parts of the editing process are better reserved for lengthier works, such as books, investigative journalism, essays, instructional works, and magazine articles. Though developmental, structural, and line editing all deserve their time and place, they’re seen less frequently in the world of digital content creation. Coincidentally, they’re also the two that get mixed up the most. Though there are various stages to the entire editing process, copy editing and proofreading are the two most common. Editing involves a different skill set and is usually more time-consuming. It’s important to note that proofreading and editing are not the same. The difference between proofreading and editing The final step of any personal or business writing process, proofreading is the process of identifying and correcting spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. There are both US and UK English conventions for proofreading. Proofreading marks are either made on paper, or in comments and digital notes in Google Docs and word processing software, to alert the writer of suggested corrections within a document. (Get it now?) Proofreaders look at more than just the words - they’re scanning for any formatting errors as well. When you proofread, you evaluate the content in what will be its final, published form, or a proof. While proofreaders will check for clarity in consistency, they’re more focused on minor errors that may have slipped through. This, however, is better suited for the editing phase, not the proofreading phase. The most important purpose of writing is to communicate your thoughts effectively. It’s the final step in making sure a piece of writing is as close to “perfect” as possible by double-checking for punctuation and spelling errors, typos, and any inconsistencies. Proofreading refers to carefully checking for writing and formatting errors in a text before it’s published. Which is why we believe now is the time to get clear about what exactly proofreading entails in our modern world. Now that just about everyone is a writer, just about everyone is a proofreader too, when you think about it. We’re pretty open-minded, but we generally recommend that writing be at least partially dressed before sharing it with the world. “Writing without revising is the literary equivalent of waltzing gaily out of the house in your underwear.” - Patricia Fuller
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